


SEE through the FLAMES

by cliniclyInsane189



Series: Whumptober 2020 [13]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Branding, Fire, Gen, Torture, Violence, Whump, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27014602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cliniclyInsane189/pseuds/cliniclyInsane189
Summary: Tiên Thị Lí, an Avatar of the Beholding, has a really, really terrible time in the hands of a Desolation cult (no, not that one) in the late 1700s.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947934
Kudos: 1
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	SEE through the FLAMES

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Whumptober 2020 Day 14 - ‘Is something burning?’ - **Branding** | Heat Exhaustion | **Fire**  
>  -  
> There is a lot of lore for this AU and I'm still working it all out, so please be patient.  
> Also, canon-typical desolation avatar type behaviour

Tiên Th ị was… Wait, was she going by that name right now? Yes, yes of course she was. Not for much longer, though. Provided, of course, that she lived through this. She didn’t know if she would - and that was the thing she hated the most about this - the not knowing. She hated not knowing things but, more importantly, she hated it when she was  _ prevented _ from knowing things by others - especially some  _ second rate devotee of the Forever Blind _ . And yet somehow the bastard had helped Cináed double-cross the entire Council not once, but  _ twice _ . 

Tiên should have been paying closer attention to him.

She’d started to get suspicious when Aodh had died, but the brothers had been so close, she hadn’t thought it possible, hadn’t thought  Cináed capable. 

Well.

That was the last time she ever underestimated Desolation. The last time…

The last...

She blinked hard behind the blindfold.

She didn’t know how long she’d been here, but she knew that if she were still mortal she would have died from dehydration long ago, starvation shortly after.

She was thirsty, she was hungry. She was Starving, almost dizzy with it, static searing behind her eyes and in her throat.

She couldn’t talk, though - the fools holding her had learned they shouldn’t let her do  _ that _ the hard way.

They hadn’t done too much damage to her, nothing that wouldn’t heal quickly. They still wanted information out of her, and until they had it, they wouldn’t risk accidentally killing her.

There was a crash from somewhere above her and, at the same time, the door slammed open, bringing with it the faint smell of ozone. 

The blindfold was tugged harshly off and  Tiên blinked furiously against the sudden light. 

It was  Cináed, of course, and he didn’t give her time to adjust before walking round behind her and pulling the gag down.

“One last chance,” he said, through gritted teeth. “Are you going to tell me what I want to know?”

The smell of ozone was getting stronger, so  Tiên bared her teeth in a vicious grin.

“ _ Go. To. Hell. _ ” She snapped.

Cináed’s hand fell on her bare shoulder and, for a moment, that was it. And then... 

Then it began to burn.

It hurt.

The pain was indescribable - it was more than should have been physically possible to inflict, and  Tiên felt, rather than heard, the scream being ripped from her throat. All she could hear was static, rising and rising in pitch and volume in her ears as the skin on her back seared and bubbled away. The ropes binding her grew hotter and hotter and fell away into dust, but she still couldn’t move, held in place by a burning, waxy hand. 

She couldn’t see anything, couldn’t See anything - until suddenly she could; as the cold blanket of Dark lifted from the room, the building, she could See Everything.

Her eyes snapped open and  _ her Eyes snapped OPEN _ and she Looked at  Cináed and the static grew louder and louder and  _ finally _ her screaming found words.

“Cináed Hume!” She screamed, and the room shook with static, “G̶̨̢͖̥͍͈̲̠̑̓͆̕͝Ḯ̴̯̠̔́̅̽͠V̵͇͇̮͚̮̾̎̔͋́̉E̵̢̻͠ ̸̞͇̱̊̍̐͂M̵̨̗͇̖̪͆͜E̵͔͎̱͉͙̫͉͐̊̑ ̸̺̈́͗͂̉͐̅͌̃Ë̶͔̺̭̳ͅV̸͙͎̰̭̠̲̑̓̌̇E̷̯͍̖̹̙͙̻͌̈́̇͌̿̅R̶̮̦͇̱͚̰͔̾̈͂̿̕Y̷̨̛̛̘̠̬̜͑T̸̢͉́̈́̿̓̊̂Ḫ̷͇͐͐̒̔͛̚I̷͕̘͓̭̜͔̐̏̂́͌̒Ň̵̡̳̮̞̅͊̃͛G̷̰̖̒̐ ̶̧̼̃̊̏̄̈́̈́̒̕Ÿ̷̯̞͇́͜O̸̢̗͌̉͝U̶͍͇̯̘͕͒̕ ̴̢̭̬̲͖͒̆̉Ą̸̻͓̹̱̯̘̈R̴̜̅̇͆̋͝E̶͉̬̯̫̼̐́!̸̧̧̖̥̭̩̒̽̍͜!̴̫̼̪͔͕̅̒̌̅̎̓͘͜”

…

And he began to talk, words spilling from his mouth as he stood there pinned to the spot, his entire self being pulled from him in his narration.

And as he began to finish, words slowing, hand falling away from  Tiên’s back, fog began to creep up around their ankles, accompanied by the sharp freshness of ozone.

Cináed stopped talking and swayed on his feet and the door slammed open again.

Tiên grinned up at the two people in the doorway.

“You can have what’s left,” she whispered. 

And then she fainted.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hope you enjoyed!  
> I'm on tumblr at h2o2coolingtubes (main) or h2-oh-fic (writing) if you want to drop by!


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